Brush foe dynamos



(No Model,) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. E. W. RICE, Jr. BRUSH FOR DYNAMOS.

No. 394,999. Pafg anted Dec 25, 1888.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

E. W. RICE, Jr.

BRUSH FOR DYNAMOS.

No. 394,999. Patented Dec. 25, 1888.

i flAKM @rwyvifi LII UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

EINVIN 'WILl-ZYR RICE, JR, OF TIYXX, h[ARSACHVSETTH.

BRUSH FOR DYNAMOS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 394,999, dated December Application tiled February '1, 1888. Serial No. 262,984. tNo model.)

To aZZ 71710712 it may 0071007 71 Be it known that I, EDWIN WILIII'E Rica. Jr., a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Brush and Brush-.lloider, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to brush devices for collecting electric currents from the e01ninutator-cylinder of a dynamo and for delivering such. currents to the commutators of motors, and has reference more particularly to improvements whereby the brushes are readily replaceable and whereby it becomes dilticult for unskilled persons to place the brushes wrongly on the connnutator, at the same time securing cheapness of manufacture and uniformity of overlap on the com- Inutator.

The invention is also designed to permit the conunutator to be run in either direction without changing the position of the brushes.

My invention consists, also in ln'ush-holder appliances particularly adapted to the form of brush of my invention.

In the accompanying drawings,Figure 1 shows in side elevation the brushes and l-n-ush-holder of my invention complete as applied to a coinmutatorcylinder. Fig. 2 shows the brush follower in perspective. Fig. 53 shows the brush-holder in perspective. Fig. i is a perspective view of the completebrush. Fig. 5 shows in end and front view a spring which is attached to the brush-follower and presses upon the brush.

Fig. '7 shows the complete brush in edge view. Fig. 8 shows in side and end view one of the copper strips or lamina of which the brush is constructed. Fig. i) shows in side and edge view one of the plates or brushes employed in 5 making up the brush. Fig. 10 shows in side elevation the yoke upon which the brushholders are supported. Fig. 11 is a view of the same from its under side. Fig. 12 shows a part of the yoke in side elevation and illus trates the position of the swinging portion of the same when such portion is moved for the purpose of attaching the yoke.

A, Fig. 1, indicates the connnutator-cylinder made up, as usual, of a series of conducting-plates or segments insulated from one an- Fig. 0 shows in side 1 view and partial section the complete brush.

; per part of the brush 1.

" other, and l iudicatcsthc cominitiator-brush,

which is held in a slot or socket provided therefor in the end of the brush-hohler I). The brush is kept in good electrical connection with the cylinder by means of a spring E, which forces the free cud of a pivoted follower, t, against the outer end of the brush, as indicated. The follower t is preferably swung upon the same pin, 1/, upon which the bruslrholder is pivoted or swung-,and carries at its end in contact with the brush a small fiat spring, 0. The spring E is attached at one end to a pin or rod,c,ou the brush-holder 3, and at the other end is provided with the screw-bolt e, which passes through astud projecting from the pivoted end of the follower t", and is provided with a proper tighteningnut, e.

The yoke l), carrying the pins or studs d, from which the ]n-ushholdcrs are supported. is indicated in dotted line, Fig. 1.

The usual set-screw, Z), is provided for sccuring the brush-holder in any position.

It will be seen that the brush F bears almost end on upon the ctnnmutator-surfat-e, and, owing to the peculiar arrangement of the copper strips orlaminz'eof which it iscomposed, as will be afterward described, t he segments of the commutator A will not injure the brush F.

The regulation of the pressure of thebrush 1: upon the mmmutator A is mainly controlled by the spring E. The ln-ush-follower C, being independent of the brush-holder l5, exerts a downward pressure upon the brush F in proportion to the tension of the spring E, The small flat spring c is made, preferably, of copper and bears directly on the uplts purpose is to insure at all times a sulliciently good contact with the brush F to convey away the current.

Fig. 5 is an illustration of the. elastic conductor-spring attached to the l rnsh-follower C. It is preferably made of copper for conducting capacity; but other-metals may be used. Its elasticity is also increased bysplilting, as shown.

The brush F is composed of copper st rips or laminze ll, built up to a width suliicient to clear the ends of the slot in the brush-holder l3, and firmly bolted together between supportingplates H by means of bolts j 1;. The

nuts or washers'at the ends of said bolts are indicated by the letters J J K K. The bolt It may consist either of a bar, which is let into the slot in the upper part of the brush, and is soldered in place therein, or may pass through a perforation in the brush after the usual manner. The former arrangement preferable, as it is cheaper to construct, and the bolt is less liable to become loose. Between the bolt] and the commutator the copper strips F are bent, as indicated in Fig. 8. This is done to secure elasticity in the brush and to prevent the end of the brush from being caught on the cmnmutator surface. Should a segment of the commutator catch the end of a strip or strips thelaiierwill give laterally and become detached.

To secure still further elasticity in the brush F, it is not built up of plates of the same kind; but interposed between the plates F,

Fig. 8, are other plates, G, Fig. 9, which do I not extend farther than the angle in the strip, Fig. 8. 3y this construction the copper strips are made to act more independently of each other, and are thus freer to follow any irregularities that mayexistin the coinnmtator-surface. The ends of the copper strips of the brush F are of course curved in form to closely fit the connnutator-surface. It will be noticed that the nuts I J are wider than the slot in which the brush works, so that when the brush has been slipped up into place in its socket the lateral movement of the brush will be prevented.

The slot in the brush-holder B, Fig. l, is made wider at one end than the other. The brush itself is also constructed wider at one end than the other. The purpose of this construetion is to render the improperplacing of the brush in the holder, end for end, vimpossible. The brushes having their surfaces ground in a certain manner to suit the commutator cannot, therefore, be placed otherwise than intended, even by an unskilled person.

The yoke T), as shown in Fig. 10, is made in two parts, the part L being attached to the body of the yoke by means of a screw or pin, a, at one end and by a bolt at the other end, the head of which bolt is indicated at m, while the fastening-nut applied to said bolt is indicated at in.

In Fig. 12 the part L of the yoke is shown in dotted lines as dropped from its position in Fig. 10. By this means the yoke may be detached at any time, or by simply loosening the nut m it may be turned by means of the handle D, so as to change the position of the brushes on the circumference of the commutator-cylinder, and may be reset by devices in its new position by tightening the nut m. i

'hat I claim as my invention is 1. The combination, with the brush-holder, of a brush-follower mounted independently thereof, a spring for forcing said follower toi attached at one end to the holder and at the other to the follower, and a brush mounted in the holder and movable independently thereof under the influence of the follower.

5. The combinatiomwith the brush-holder, of the brush-follower U, mounted upon the i same support therefor and having its free end projecting over the slot or guide in the l holder in which the brush moves and provided with a spring, 0, adapted to bear upon the brush.

(3. The combination, with a revolving commutator-cylinder, of a fixed laminated commutator-brush having sliding contact with the cylinder, said brush consisting of plates or laminar arranged in planes transverse to the surface of the comnmtator-plates and bent sidewise at their contact ends in a direction transverse to the planes of the laminations and parallel with the plane of the commutator contact-surfaces.

7. The combination, with a revolving commutator cylinder, of a stationary or fixed commuator contact-brush, with which the cylinder makes sliding contact, said brush being made up of plates or laminae bent sidewise at their contact ends in adirection transverse to the plane of the laminations and parallel to the contact-surface of the commutatorplates,wit-h intermediate plates, G, whose ends extenddown to or near the bend in the lan1- inze.

8. A laminated commutator-brush having a fastening-bolt provided with heads or nuts enlarged beyond the width of the slot or guide in which the brush moves.

9. A commutator yoke-piece, I), having a movable portion, L, detachably or movably secured thereto at its two ends, as and for the purpose described.

E. WI'LBUR RICE, JR.

\Vitness'es:

()TIs K. STUART, J. W. GIBBONEY. 

